“Our kids are not easily swayed from their goal,” Davis coach Jody Weber said after the Wolves’ 26-20 come-from-behind victory in overtime over Jones. “There was no panic from the coaches or the kids.”

And there easily could have been. Davis (10-1), the runaway champions of District 2A-4, hadn’t played a close game since a week 3 loss to Heritage Hall.

Jones (9-3), with massive linemen and a true spread offense, were a handful in green and white, flying down the field at will in a second quarter that saw them score 17 unanswered points.

Davis never flinched. Down 17-6 at halftime, the Wolves conceded yards but held the Longhorns to a field goal in the second half. Tied 20-20 heading into overtime, Davis forced Jones to try a field goal from 36 yards out.

Nathan Lee was good from 21 and 25 yards earlier in the game, but missed when it counted the most. From 10 yards out, Davis put the ball in the hands of its two workhorses — Matt Burba and Zac Maynard — and Maynard’s 6-yard dive sealed the climatic comeback win.

It also locked up a meeting with defending Class 2A champions Lincoln Christian next week in Tulsa. Lincoln beat Davis 24-21 last season in the quarterfinals en route to the 2A title.

“I guess this was the feeling we were looking for last year,” said Maynard, the game-winning football stuffed in his helmet. “We stopped them three or four times on the goal line. We thought if we could get to OT, we had a good chance.”

The closer Jones got to the Davis goal line, the better the Wolves’ defense became. Jones quarterback Michael Lowe did most of his damage between the 20s, with touchdown passes of 15 and 72 yards to Kris Vaughn on consecutive possessions in the second quarter. Lee converted both extra points and a 21-yard field goal before halftime to send Jones into the break with momentum.

The Davis offense ended the half with quarterback Cole Weber getting sacked on three consecutive plays, and the Jones defensive line kept Davis from establishing any semblance of a passing game. But drastic changes weren’t made at halftime.

“We just told them to get after it more,” Weber said of the offensive line play in the second half. “We knew we made too many penalties in the first half and we knew we’d give ourselves a chance if we cut them down.”

Davis drove 80 yards on it first possession of the third quarter, extended on third-and-7 via an Alec Hetherington 11-yard run and finished on a 13-yard Burba TD run. Jones marched to the Davis 12 but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty pushed them back to the 25. Two plays later, a bad snap on a field goal try gave Davis the ball on their 29.

It was the first set of a litany of penalties and mistakes for Jones in the second half. Weber fumbled a snap on second-and-11 but recovered to find Hetherington for a 72-yard TD pass to give Davis the 20-17 lead, its first since the first period.

Jones made its way to the Davis 1-yard line, but had to settle for a game-tying field goal after three cracks at the end zone. On third-and-goal at the 4, a false start penalty pushed the Longhorns back five yards. Jones committed six penalties in the second half and overtime combined, all at critical times.

“We missed on some opportunities to put points on the board in the red zone,” Jones coach Dave Martin said. “In a spread offense you can get condensed down there.

“When you have two good football teams going at it, it’s tough to come out sometimes.”

Maynard finished with 65 yards on 14 carries, none bigger than his game winner. He started Davis off with a 6-yard score at 7:42 in the first quarter.

Weber rushed for 108 yards and Burba had all but eight of his 91 yards rushing in the second half. Jones won the air battle (294-72) while Davis dominated the ground (298-78).

Lowe was 18-of-26 for 294 yards passing and Vaughn caught three passes for 95 yards.

Erik K. Horne
221-6522

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